Sprint is First to Offer Full-Length &quot;Pay Per View&quot; Movies on Mobile Phones in U.S.

September 05, 2006

Many recent and classic titles available from Buena Vista VOD, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures through mSpot Partnership

Media Contact:
Aaron Radelet, Sprint
703-433-8246

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.
—
09/05/2006

Sprint (NYSE: S) launched today Sprint Movies, the first "pay-per-view" service for mobile phones in the U.S. that streams full-length movies, including recent box-office hits and timeless favorites from Buena Vista VOD, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures. Sprint Movies offers a growing list of more than 45 titles, including "National Treasure," "Spider-Man 2" and "Scarface." Sprint Movies is powered by mSpot, which is responsible for video production and ongoing operations of the service.

Sprint Movies features many of the same conveniences as a DVD player. A movie can be seen in its entirety all at once, or it can be divided into chapters and watched over time. Customers can play, pause and skip forward or backward to different chapters. They can also resume a movie at the exact point where it was last shut down.

"Sprint Movies allows our customers to be entertained on the one device that they always carry with them and during times when watching a movie at a theater or on a home entertainment system isn’t possible," said Alana Muller, director, entertainment product marketing, Sprint. "For example, customers can take their mind off a busy day during a lunch break, breeze through a few minutes while waiting in the parking lot for a child’s soccer practice to end, or make a two-hour delay at the airport much more bearable. And with child-friendly titles such as ’Herbie: Fully Loaded’ and ’Babe,’ Sprint Movies are also great to keep the kids busy in the backseat."

In December 2005, Sprint became the first carrier in the U.S. to offer any type of full-length movies on mobile phones with mSpot Movies. This service will continue to be available as another option to Sprint customers. Compared to Sprint Movies, which are pay-per-view by each title, mSpot Movies allow customers to watch a unique selection of unlimited movies, TV shows and concerts for a monthly subscription fee of $6.95.

"Since mSpot Movies launched, subscriber growth has averaged more than 30 percent month over month, which indicates a strong interest from customers for this type of capability. We look forward to mobile-movie watching becoming even more popular with our additional offering now of Sprint Movies," said Muller.

Sprint Movies cost between $3.99 and $5.99 each. Customers can view the movie for unlimited times within a set period, which varies between 24 hours and one week depending on the title. In addition, 24-hour titles include the option of purchasing up to two 24-hour viewing extensions at the rate of $.99.

Sprint Movies is available on select Sprint multimedia handsets and can be watched anywhere while on Sprint’s Power Vision network or nationwide Vision network. All titles from Sprint Movies are edited, when necessary, to meet TV-14 standards. New titles will continually be added to the Sprint Movies lineup. The initial titles are:

Buena Vista VOD

Annapolis
Eight Below
Glory Road
Herbie: Fully Loaded
National Treasure
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The Village

American Pie
American Pie 2
Apollo 13
Babe
Backdraft
Billy Madison
Bring it On
Dante’s Peak
End of Days
Erin Brokovich
Fast and Furious
Happy Gilmore
How High
Jaws
Kindergarten Cop
Meet the Parents
National Lampoon’s Animal House
Reality Bites
Scarface
Slapshot
The Bone Collector
The Breakfast Club
The Family Man
The Jerk
The Mummy
The Mummy Returns
The Nutty Professor 2
Tremors
Twins
U-571

About Sprint Video
Sprint has a strong history of providing wireless data services that are innovative and unique, and Sprint’s video offerings are a distinct example of this leadership. Sprint TV was recently awarded the Editor’s Choice by PC Magazine and the Best Bet by PC World for the best video service on mobile phones. Sprint offers more than 50 video and audio channels of live and on-demand programming, and Sprint was the first U.S. mobile carrier to:

Receive an Emmy(R) Award (Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development from The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences),

Offer live television programming on mobile phones (MobiTV),

Broadcast the first live concert directly on mobile phones (Bon Jovi),

Offer full-length feature films on mobile phones (mSpot Movies),

Provide any type of multimedia experience on mobile phones, beginning with video slides and audio (1KTV),

Deliver a continuous streaming audio and video product up to 15 frames per second and

Offer a Spanish-language live TV service.

About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of communications services bringing mobility to consumer, business and government customers. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two robust wireless networks offering industry leading mobile data services; instant national and international walkie-talkie capabilities; and an award-winning and global Tier 1 Internet backbone. For more information, visit www.sprint.com.

Comments

This area is reserved for members of the news media. If you qualify, please update your user profile and check the box marked "Check here to register as an accredited member of the news media". Please include any notes in the "Supporting information for media credentials" box. We will notify you of your status via e-mail in one business day.